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Raptors putting on a show - who's watching?

If you don't count all those visits to the hospital, things couldn't be much rosier for the Toronto Raptors these days.

By Chris Zelkovich

Fri., March 30, 2007

If you don't count all those visits to the hospital, things couldn't be much rosier for the Toronto Raptors these days.

They're almost assured of their first division title, will make the playoffs for the first time since people used to cheer Vince Carter and are playing to big crowds at home.

But about those television ratings ...

The good news is that they're up almost 25 per cent over last season, which is impressive in an era of audience fragmentation. The bad news is that the Raptors are taking a back seat to the likes of swimming, university hockey, spring training baseball and the usual suspects such as hockey, curling and figure skating.

The team's best showing is on TSN, where it is averaging 143,000 viewers. That's a good number for amateur sports, but hardly the kind of national audience you'd expect for an entertaining, first-place team.

That's about one-10th the audience of a CBC Leafs game.

And audiences on the Raptors' other three channels are even lower: The Score (113,000), Rogers Sportsnet (118,000). Raptors NBA TV ratings were not available, but rest assured they'd be lower yet.

Despite those low numbers, the Raptors are happy with the growth.

``We're not at all disappointed," says Tom Anselmi, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment chief operating officer. ``If you'd told me at the beginning of the season that we'd be up 20-25 per cent by now I'd have been thrilled."

But that might have been more the result of the low expectations this team had back in the fall, coupled with the fact that the bulk of the Raptors games were on The Score and Raptors NBA TV – channels that tend to draw small audiences.

And while the move did boost Raptors NBA TV subscriptions by 15 per cent to 607,000, the final three weeks of the season may reveal the plan as a momentum-stopper.

Six of the team's remaining 11 games, including both this weekend, are on the digital channel. Any buzz that might have been created by a run to the playoffs will probably be muffled by the fact that so few people will be watching the games.

Back in 2001, the Raptors' playoff run averaged 713,000 viewers on CTV, so the potential is there. But the audience built slowly to that level, with ratings increasing as the playoffs approached.

That's less likely to happen this time.

Granted, it's not as if the Raptors had much of a choice. TSN and Sportsnet couldn't handle any more games than they have now and the days of the likes of CTV or Global carrying the Raptors are long gone.

The Raptors may one day be able to outdraw swimming, but it's going to take a good playoff run and at least another winning season to do the trick.

JAY DAY: Sunday will be baseball night on Sportsnet with a major league season preview at 7, an inside look at the Blue Jays at 7:30 and the season opener at 8. The Jays special is a documentary that will present the players in a more personal light. ... Sportsnet will carry eight Toronto FC games this season, with Gerry Dobson and Craig Forrest calling the games. Network president Doug Beeforth says the network's six road productions will use the league feed, augmented by extra Sportsnet cameras. ... While the verbiage quotient on ESPN's Monday Night Football will be reduced drastically with Ron Jaworski replacing Joe Theismann, at least Theismann talked mostly about football. ... Baseball's Extra Innings package in Canada won't be affected by the DirectTV dispute in the U.S., says Rogers Cable. Its deal is separate and will be similar to last year's offering. ... TSN's excellent Spirit of the Game series will move to CTV starting tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. ... Further proof the world is doomed: A reality series featuring Jose Canseco starts shooting next month. ... CBC will produce both ends of tomorrow's hockey doubleheader in high definition.

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